Rejection Still Sucks Whether by an ATS, Email or In-Person!

July 20, 2015 - PRLog -- In 2011, I wrote a blog on “ATS – How to Distinguish Your Skills from the Pack” regarding my employment search as a Talent Acquisition Professional after several years of being self-employed. My resume and/or application were either lost in the black hole with no response or were rejected within minutes of submission. I considered the process a “sham” thus, consequently; I included in my blog several recommendations for moving from applicant to an interviewee:

1. Network, network, and more network by leveraging your social media and personal network.

2. Do your homework about the organization.

3. Pick-up the telephone to obtain the name of the recruiter.

4. Follow-up after the submission of your resume/application.

5. Do not trust applicant-tracking systems (ATS), i.e. Jobvite, Taleo, BrassRing, etc. ever.

Recently, just as a test, I submitted my LinkedIn profile for an open job position having both the listed and preferred requirements. Within minutes at 9:00 p.m. Friday evening, I received the GENERIC ATS automated rejection email. Needless to say, I thought WTF becoming “that” frustrated REJECTED candidate. Consequently, based on my candidate experience, my opinion about the organization has been negatively clouded.

This recent example is not an abnormality but the norm, unfortunately. According to Forbes, 75% of qualified candidates’ resumes are rejected by ATSs. Additionally, over the last two decades, several articles have cited ATSs problems ranging from poor filtering to older algorithms. Although, in my blog, I noted that ATSs were flawed as a selection tool, I did not realize how many more organizations would rely on ATSs as a selection tool accepting and rejecting candidates.

ATSs are candidate management systems that sort, organize and maintain resumes, but were never programmed as a candidate selection tool. Several ATSs have evolved by incorporating add-ons such as semantic and/or contextualization search technology. Others are now claiming the ability to engage the right candidate leading to the right hire without any quantifiable evidence. However, in lieu of ATSs past and present failure to accurately identify the right candidate(s), ATSs should not be the preferred tool to use for including and/or rejecting candidates.

ATSs have inherent flaws, but ATSs have several benefits including big data analytics, candidate flow management, and online social media & multiple job board postings.  These benefits allow organizations to get more bang for the buck with the usage of ATSs. Again, hiring managers and/or recruiters should be aware of inherent flaws since many resumes submitted to the ATSs either are not qualified or if qualified, may have been filtered out of the candidate pool or ranked below the 50th percentile. Organizations that are not utilizing add-ons or other recruiting tools are limiting the number of qualified candidates comparing apples to oranges or just plain settling on one candidate – who may not be the right candidate.

The candidate experience from the beginning especially in lieu of the “year of the candidate” needs to be in the forefront. Organizations lose out on opportunities to at least interview a qualified candidate with ALL the listed and preferred requirements. It is no wonder that attrition rates are slowly climbing again from the drop in 2008/2009 timeframe. In conclusion, rejection still sucks whether by an ATS, email or in person.

About Zorha:

Zorha is the forward-thinking CEO and founder of ZeeSeek, a cutting-edge, simple to use candidate search tool allowing companies and corporations to instantly assess and acquire quality candidates.  Zorha has a B.A. in Speech Communications & Political Science from San Francisco State University, and a M.S. in Human Resources Development from Villanova University.  She is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SPRM-SCP) along with several AIRS certifications. @ZeeSeek